Booked for this case file

Every 26 seconds a child is trafficked with the average age of girls being pushed into this hellhole dropping constantly reflects research by Kolkatabased antitrafficking organisation Missing Link Trust As a common onlooker founder Leena Kejriwal realised over time that while welfare groups and authorities were cracking down to prevent secondgeneration prostitution no one was really talking about how the public is the biggest stakeholder in creating demand for traffickingldquoYou and I are the public I am responsible that a girl can come stand here in my passive ignorancerdquo the photographer illustrates adding that this prompted her to initiate a public dialogue on ldquomissingrdquo girls back in 2014 After creating a discourse at schools galleries and street corners across the world through a massive missing girl silhouette campaign installations games and awareness programmes the trust has now tied up with the International Justice Mission IJM Kolkata to launch a oneofakind web comic that lets readers walk into the overlapping worlds of sex traffickers preying customers investigators the judiciary and of course the victimsWeb of Deceit A Missing and Trafficking Casefile launched last month in the form of an app brings to light the story of a missing teenager called Nisha mdash who could be any young girl around you in any part of India In doing so it reveals over the course of eight chapters how young girls are manipulated the role technology plays in aiding criminals how investigations unravel and the sheer trauma the victims undergo even after theyrsquore rescued ldquoI believe in the power of narrative to build empathy and knowledge We made a proposal to IJM to collaborate on a comic in 2019 We wanted to talk about how trafficking is moving online itrsquos no longer about rural to urban itrsquos becoming urban to urban Itrsquos no longer limited to just the poor eitherrdquo Kejriwal informs us adding that the story was inspired by a few real case filesLeena KejriwalThe illustrated panels pack in drama and a sense of mystery with a fitting ambient score But what sets it apart is the engagement factor mdash you can help clear a coprsquos desk to find a photograph roleplay as a client and make several narrative choices to seek justice for Nisha The narrative is also punctuated with thoughtful questions to the reader on accepting unknown friend requests online understanding the difference between trafficking and kidnapping knowledge on how to report such crimes etc ldquoDuring the launch of this comic a senior inspector had remarked that trafficking is a social issue that involves you and me not her and themrdquo recalls Kejriwal adding that their multidimensional approach in the comic plays a key role in spreading awareness The latter part of the story when the prosecution of the accused takes place is thus embedded with handy PDFs on helpline numbers the rights of victims best practices and previous judgements mdash so that you and I the readers have no more excuses to just remain passive onlookers anymoreAre more interactive projects on the cards then ldquoWersquore working on the Missing game two as we strongly believe in the power of media in shaping generationsrdquo she signs offLog on to Google Play Store